A two-day drill,Â Exercise 24 (X24),Â was launched today by San Diego State University’s Immersive Visualization Center in large part to test how social media would be used to respond to a crisis. According to a CNN.com article, “Fake Earthquake Disaster Drill Tests Facebook, Twitter”:
The idea is to test the speed and widen the scope of responses [...]

As the U.S. marks the ninth anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to post some ideas that I think would help raise citizen preparedness and engagement. The recommendations come from discussions that I have had with people involved in all aspects of the issue, my own experiences as a parent and CERT member in New York [...]

The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Ad Council today launched a new Facebook application to help New Yorkers find a safe place to meet their families or friends during an emergency.
According to the press release:
Located on OEM’s Facebook page, the new interactive web mapping application allows New Yorkers to select [...]

As government emergency management offices and non-profit disaster relief groups increasingly utilize Twitter and Facebook as part of their operations, I thought I would check with some leading practioners in the field to see how the two social media platforms are being employed in their work with the public.
It turns out that in most cases [...]

A very interesting American Red Cross survey released this morning indicates that many web users would turn to social media to seek help for themselves or others during emergenciesâ€”and they expect first responders to be listening.
In fact,Â 74 percent of those polled expected help to come less than an hour after their tweet or Facebook post.
The [...]

The same people who brought you Preparedness Piggy, Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security in Kansas, have come up with another creative idea — using Twitter and Facebook to ask the public whether its emergency sirens are covering the area adequately.
Today, just after drill testing its 177 outdoor warning sirens, officials requested through Facebook [...]

The American Red Cross today unveiled new and updated technology Â – an improved “Safe and Well” site and a real-time way to find shelter — to help families during a disaster.
According to the Red Cross news release:
Safe and Well is a secure and easy-to-use online tool that allows people inside a disaster-affected area to list [...]

On its Facebook page, the very activeÂ Medical Reserve Corps of Greater Kansas City posted some photos of a day-long class it held Saturday using FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute’s Independent Study curriculum, “IS-22: Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide To Citizen Preparedness”.
The Facebook post piqued my curiosity about the FEMA course whose introductory Overview explains:
“has been [...]

As social media becomes an increasingly important way for emergency managers to distribute disaster preparedness information to the public, officials are facing communications issues they have not dealt with before. One such issue — should FEMA be sending information in Spanish as well as English to the feed it sends its ‘fans’ on Facebook? –Â has [...]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and the American Red Cross have produced a menu with their various social media tools (including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and widgets) for the public to use/bookmark during hurricane season. It can be found on FEMA’s website here. You can also receive e-mail and text alerts [...]